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D J Plude

Publications and source records attributed to D J Plude.

8 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1994

The development of selective attention: a life-span overview.

This paper outlines research on selective attention within a life-span developmental framework. Findings obtained in both the infancy-child and adulthood-aging literatures are reviewed and discussed in relationship to four aspects of selective attention: orienting, filtering, search, and expecting. Developmental consistencies and inconsistencies are identified and integrative theories are evaluated. Although a single theory is unlikely to accommodate the diverse patterns of age effects, emergent themes are identifiable nonetheless and the essential ingredients of a life-span theory of attentional development are enumerated. Directions for future research and theory are suggested.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1994

Cardiac vagal tone and sustained attention in school-age children.

Three hypotheses tested relationships between cardiac responses mediated via the vagus and sustained attention in a population of normal school-age children. These hypotheses addressed the theoretical relationships among resting cardiac vagal tone (using the Porges estimate of respiratory sinus arrhythmia, V), performance measures of sustained attention, and cardiac reactivity during sustained attention. Thirty-two fourth and fifth grade children performed a continuous performance task while their electrocardiograms were monitored. Children with higher resting levels of V performed better on the first 3-min block of the continuous performance task. Additionally, levels of V were significantly reduced across the blocks of the 9-min task for all children. No relationships were found between resting levels of V and change in either V or heart period during task performance. These findings support two of the three hypotheses proposed by Porges regarding individual differences in cardiac vagal tone and sustained attention.

Aging↗
PubMed1987

Radial localization in the aged.

Elderly subjects were 41% less accurate than young subjects in localizing a point in the frontal plane. The decline could be ascribed neither to an age difference in image formation or skill acquisition nor to a difference in motivational level or trace retention. Evidently the "ambient" or "transient" visual system is compromised at an elementary level. Reasons why this deficit may not be compounded at more complex levels of spatial processing are suggested.

Adult↗
PubMed1986

Age and the selectivity of visual information processing.

Two experiments were conducted to assess age differences in the selectivity of visual information processing. Selectivity was measured by the amount of interference caused by nontarget letters when subjects detected a target letter in a visual display. In both experiments, young and elderly groups participated in search and nonsearch conditions; in the search condition targets appeared anywhere in the display, whereas in the nonsearch condition targets were confined to the center position of the display. In the first experiment, subjects were assigned to either condition for two sessions of testing, and in the second experiment each subject participated in both conditions. In both experiments nontargets produced larger interference effects for old compared to young adults in the search condition but not in the nonsearch condition. The obtained pattern of age effects could not be explained by age-related reductions in parafoveal acuity. The findings indicate that the magnitude of divided-attention deficit increases with age, whereas focused-attention deficits are unaffected by aging.

Adult↗
PubMed1986

Age differences in depicting and perceiving tridimensionality in simple line drawings.

Twelve young adults (M = 21 years) and twelve elderly adults (M = 67 years) were asked to draw a solid cube. The depictions produced by elderly adults were rated by judges as less accurate than the depictions produced by young adults. Both age groups were also asked to evaluate cube drawings that were deliberately distorted in ways characteristic of the depictions produced by older adults. Compared to younger participants, the elderly were more likely to accept distorted drawings as accurate. Control tasks demonstrated that older adults were able to draw and evaluate simpler two-dimensional patterns on par with younger adults. Apparently the mental representation of tridimensional information deteriorates with age leading to deficits in both production and recognition.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1982

Age, response complexity, and target consistency in visual search.

Adult age differences in visual search were examined under manipulations of target set consistency (fixed versus varied), response complexity (2 versus 4 sorting categories), display size (1, 4, or 8 letters/card), and sessions (2). Mean card sorting times of 20 young (mean = 22 years) and 20 elderly (mean = 62 years) adults were compared. Significant main effects of age, complexity, consistency, sessions, and display size were obtained. A consistent target set facilitated search independent of response complexity. As predicted, significant interactions indicated that age differences in search were eliminated under the fixed set procedure but not under the varied set procedure.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1981

Adult age differences in visual search as a function of stimulus mapping and processing load.

Previous research has indicated age-related declines in visual search and memory search performance. Recent nondevelopmental evidence suggests that after extensive practice with a consistent stimulus set, performance in search tasks becomes independent of information load. Eight volume (mean age 23.55 years) and eight elderly (mean age 74.92 years) females searched for either two or four target letters which appeared individually in displays of one, four, or nine letters using either an unchanging memory set (consistent mapping) or changing memory sets (varied mapping); subjects performed over six sessions. Under the varied mapping condition the traditional pattern of age-associated decrement in search was obtained, while in the consistent mapping condition adult age differences were attenuated. These findings supported the hypothesis that age-related decrements in visual search can be eliminated, or at least minimized, when various control processes such as selective attention are short-circulated by automatic information processing.

Adult↗